Maryland, Baltimore officials pledge pursuit of Amazon 'HQ2'

08 September 2017

Amazon has a rather specific list of preferences for the site of its second headquarters, stating that it would like to build in a metropolitan area with more than one million people that's also a "stable and business-friendly environment". The new headquarters will bring along 50,000 high-paying jobs. "We're excited to find a second home", the CEO said. The office it moved into in 2010 has more than 40,000 workers and is spread across 8.1 million square feet. The endeavor comes with an expected investment of over $5 billion in order to construct and grow the new facility, which will create as many as 50,000 job openings.

What's interesting is that in its announcement today, Amazon doesn't mention the USA specifically, suggesting that cities in Canada and Mexico are up for consideration as well. Amazon lists a number of "core preferences", including a 45-minute drive to an global airport, mass transit (such as a tram or subway stop) connected directly to the site, and at least 500,000 square feet of office space available by 2019.

Steve Pennington, Maryland Department of Commerce's managing director of business and industry sector development, said he became aware of the proposal this morning when a contact from Amazon alerted the state to the opportunity.

Still, there are not many obvious places to build the massive campus Amazon has in mind.

"The Project must be sufficiently close to a significant population center, such that it can fill the 50,000 estimated jobs that will be required over multiple years", Amazon said in a seven-page Request for Proposals made public Thursday.

Pittsburgh plans to compete for the new site of AmazonHQ2, a second headquarters location announced by the Seattle-based company early Thursday.

Urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent.

The second Amazon headquarters is going to go by "HQ2".

The company also said incentives offered by state and local governments will be "significant factors" in the decision. Despite the quick turnaround, responses to Amazon are due on October 19, Pennington said the state will be ready to pitch Maryland's advantages. Rosslyn recently scored Nestle's USA headquarters and Ballston has been active in trying to attract tech companies and fill soon-to-be-vacated office space.